AIDS-RELATED RESEARCH DIVISION: VIROLOGY CORE SUMMARY The Virology Service/Resource Core provides virologic resources and expertise to enable efficient and productive use of nonhuman primates for AIDS-related research. As such, the Specific Aims of the Division are to 1) provide standardized reagents and virologic assays for AIDS-related research at the WaNPRC, 2) develop new resources and technology for AIDS-related research, and 3) provide and maintain infrastructure (e.g., equipment, facilities, and trained personnel) required to conduct AIDS-related research at the WaNPRC. To achieve its mission, the Core maintains, equips, and provides oversight for operations in the BSL-2 laboratories (e.g. vaccinia virus lab) and the Retrovirus Laboratory (BSL-2 with 3 practices) at the Western Facilities. In addition, the Core also establishes standard operating procedures and provides training to personnel for the safe operation in these laboratories. The operations of the Core serve to provide support in the areas of sample processing (including isolation of plasma, serum and PBMC, and processing of various tissues such as lymph node, vaginal wash, etc.), lymphocyte subset analysis and hematology, virus isolation by co-culture, viral load determination by various PCR methods, serology (including ELISA and immunoblots in multiple formats), and virus stocks and viral antigens. In this renewal, we plan to continue providing state-of- the-art standardized services, and to expand our capability in viral load determinations, serology, preparation of virus stocks and recombinant viral antigens. Some of the current services, especially in the area of tissue sample processing, archiving and characterization, will be expanded to a separate Immunology Core that will be formed to develop and refine cutting-edge procedures and assays that will better support the critical and growing need for services and expertise in AIDS immunology. The Virology Core will interact closely with the Mucosal Immunology Core to coordinate these activities and synchronize methodologies in order to ensure comparability of results and to provide adequate coverage of the increasing workload anticipated in the next granting period.